BREAKING: GUNMEN Take HOSTAGES…Use Suicide Bombers To Get Past Security In Somali Hotel: “They were shooting at everyone they could see”

Jun 25, 2016

How many acts of violence need to take place during Ramadan to convince people that Islam is a religion of peace?

A team of gunmen took hostages after storming a hotel in a Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu on Saturday, police have revealed.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the hotel, followed by a second explosion heard inside the hotel as gunmen fought their way in, police said. At least four bodies were seen outside the hotel, one officer said.

A witness to the attack, Ali Mohamud, said the attackers randomly shot at guests at the hotel.

“They were shooting at everyone they could see. I escaped through the back door,” he said.

Yusuf Ali, an ambulance driver, told The Associated Press that he evacuated 11 people injured in the attack to hospitals.

“Most of them were wounded in crossfire,” he said

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Somalia-based, al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group has been waging a deadly insurgency across large parts of Somalia and often employs suicide car bomb attacks to penetrate heavily fortified targets in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

In early June, an overnight siege by extremist gunmen at another hotel in the capital killed least 15 people, including two members of parliament. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for that attack.

The latest attack comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which extremists often step up attacks in this volatile East African country.

The assaults in the seaside capital have highlighted the challenges facing the Somali government and African Union forces that are struggling to secure the country. An attack on another Mogadishu hotel and public garden in February killed at least nine civilians. A car bomb outside a restaurant in the capital in April killed at least five.

The al-Shabab insurgents have been ousted from most of Somalia’s cities but continue to carry out bombings and suicide attacks. Via: FOX News